Anna Daniels
The John Wick series turned a simple revenge thriller into a vast, expansive underworld of assassins who operate just out of sight. The Continental will expand that underworld even more, according to John Wick director Chad Stahelski, who revealed more details about the upcoming Starz TV series spin-off of the acclaimed action franchise. But while The Continental will focus on perspectives of different characters — including some characters who have appeared in the films — that doesn’t mean that Keanu Reeves’ famous hitman won’t appear in the TV show.
In an interview with Fandom, Stahelski revealed the approach for The Continental TV series. The show will be told from “different characters’ points of view” to expand the world introduced in the three John Wick films, Stahelski said. But he didn’t rule out Reeves’ appearing in the series as John Wick, a possibility which has been teased before:
“The angle they’re working on The Continental TV show right now is a different perspective on the whole world, it’s coming at it from different characters’ points of view and what the breadth of the world is. Whereas in John Wick I’m following a time period that’s almost just a week in the life of one man, [for] who everything spirals out of control, which our John Wick story. The angle that the other producers and writers on the TV show are coming from is a very different timeline structure and a very different perspective of character. About how deep the world goes, and not just assassins but everything that’s included.
And a lot of the origin stories are some of the characters you see in Wick. So It’s got some very interesting things, it’s a very interesting take on the Wick world, which I think it pretty cool. But it won’t be from the John Wick perspective. Not that John Wick won’t be involved with it, it’s just not from his perspective.”
Getting to see the origin stories of characters introduced in the John Wick series is intriguing stuff. It means we could see more of fan-favorite characters who have died – Parabellum Big Bad Zero (Mark Dacascos) comes to mind – or who barely got enough screen time (Tick Tock Man episode, when?). It would be exciting to see how John Wick crossed paths with all these characters in the past, which may require multiple appearances by Reeves, but none that would take too long to film. That way, we get to see the world of John Wick expand, but also our understanding of Reeves’ character as well.
Stahelski is attached to helm the pilot for The Continental, which comes from writer/producer Chris Collins (Sons of Anarchy, The Wire, and The Man in the High Castle), who also serves as showrunner. Stahelski also executive produces alongside Thunder Road Pictures’ Basil Iwanyk, John Wick franchise writer Derek Kolstad, Collins, David Leitch (John Wick co-director, Deadpool 2) and Reeves.
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